As photographs show British troops assaulting a prisoner of war, the Ministry of Defence said more than 10 claims of torture and cruelty towards Iraqi PoWs had been investigated.

Five inquiries into mistreatment of prisoners were ongoing, while officials were studying the findings in other cases.

· The Royal Military police are conducting nine investigations and the Royal Air Force one

· Five of the investigations have been completed. Three were found to be unsubstantiated. One was passed to the special investigations board which is considering what to do. The final investigation has been passed to military prosecutors

· Troops from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, based in Catterick, North Yorkshire, faced questioning in Iraq and in Britain by Royal Military police (RMP) over the alleged killing of an Iraqi PoW, whose body was found in a Basra prison camp.

The death of pro-Saddam fighter Al-Maliki last September prompted a major inquiry, which found the Iraqi's body had multiple injuries

· The investigation into Al-Maliki's death examined if there were any links between the incident and a bomb blast which killed one of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment's most popular soldiers.

Captain Dai Jones, 29, a married man from Louth, Lincs, serving with the 1st Battalion QLR, was killed last August when Iraqi loyalists exploded a remote control device near Basra.

The regiment was sent to Iraq to carry out peacekeeping duties following the defeat of Saddam Hussein

· The RMP special investigations branch has investigated a case in which soldiers photographed the alleged torture of Iraqi PoWs left suspended in netting from a forklift truck. Soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers have been questioned following the discovery of the images, in which PoWs were gagged and bound.

It is understood photographic developers initially contacted police last May after they became concerned about a number of pictures on a roll of film which had been handed into their shop for processing.